Yesterday we went to visit the Novodevichy Convent and Cemetery, final resting place of notable Russians from the Soviet era and before.
There's nothing quite like it in the USA, maybe it is comparable to Highgate Cemetery in London. David Oistrakh, Kruschev, Ilyushin, Tupolev, Glazunov, Prokofiev, Gogol, Stanislavsky, and Chekhov like close together in what really is a very small brick yard behind the convent where Peter the Great imprisoned his sister, Regent Sofia, for her entire life.
The cemetery is especially pretty in the snow, the sculptures and busts decorating the tombs like real works of art. My favorite grave was that of Anton Chekhov, small, beautiful, graceful, just like his writing. There are some striking tombstones, such as a Soviet military leader remembered forever with telephone in hand, a composer memorialized by music running around his grave in cast iron, and a young television journalist's memorial. His craggy tomb, made out of angled granite blocks in the constructivist style, featured photos of the deceased reporting from Nicaragua and Afghanistan among other hot spots.
In the convent grounds one can find a hero of Russia's battle war with Napoleon, dramatized in Tolstoy's War and Peace, General Davydov. His likeness stares out from a bust atop the plinth on his grave.
There were a couple of nice exhibits in the museum buildings, one of missionary work by Russian orthodox priests in the Far East, including China and Japan. Even something about the Metropolitan for America, who returned to become a major church figure in Moscow. Until seeing the exhibit, I didn't realize that the Russian Orthodox church had any missionaries...
